Long Awaited – Momofuku Ssam Bar and Milk Bar

Huge thank you to everyone for the lovely birthday wishes🙂 I don’t think I’ve received so many birthday wishes before! I am so behind with all my blogging! I had to help my Sis Macy do something the last few days, so I’m sorry for being a little slow with replying to comments and reading all your fantastic blogs ~

I have heard so much about David Chang and the Momofuku chain by so many bloggers that I just HAD to go try it out for myself🙂 I tried to book for a table at Momofuku ko two weeks before going to NYC…but no luck…it was full…I know I should have booked a month in advance, but I really didn’t expect it to be so full!

Day 2 of our trip, I dragged Mr Bao out of bed extra early, had some breakfast at our hotel, then jumped in a cab and headed to the East Village on my quest to find Momofuku🙂

We arrived at Momofuku Ssam Bar at around 10:30am and it wasn’t open so early…Mr Bao was getting very impatient, we took our time to walk around the East Village and enjoy the nice scenery ~ I really like this area, it’s not as busy as the other areas in Manhattan and people seem more at ease ~ and we found this nice church🙂

Think it's the St Mark's Church ~

After a good hour of mindless walking, we went back to Momofuku Ssam bar and was greeted by a nice but probably still half asleep waiter🙂 he led us to our table which was near the window and handed us the menu.

Even though we had breakfast a mere 3 hours ago, Mr Bao was starving and I knew if I didn’t order and get some food in front of him, he wasn’t going to be very happy😛 But there was a problem, the whole menu was full of dishes with duck – Rotisserie Duck Over Rice, Duck Dumping Soup, Duck sandwich and Pulled Duck Bun : D Poor Mr Bao is on a special diet because of his eczema where he can’t have duck…so the only thing he could really have from the menu was the Spicy Pork with Rice cakes.

Spicy Pork Sausage and Rice Cakes $19USD

The spicy pork sausages is minced and tossed in a Korean chilli sauce with chinese broccoli and sichuan peppercorns🙂 it was a fantastic mix of all the flavours ! We both really enjoyed it, went especially well with the spring onion and dried garlic pieces. Even though I thought the rice cakes were a little too chewy, Mr Bao seemed to like the texture. We recommend this dish to anyone who likes a bit of spice and rice cakes ~

Pulled Duck bun $7USD

I was surprised that they didn’t have the Pulled Pork Bun, so I had the Pulled Duck Bun instead🙂 It was brilliant with the mayo and the bun was so fresh, which is something hard to find in my opinion ~ I’ve never had pulled duck, but definitely like the texture the pulling technique brings to the duck ~ I think Mr Bao was a little jealous and kept complaining that it was tiny, but I think it was the perfect size for me🙂

Then conveniently, Momofuku Milk bar was right across from the Ssam Bar, so we quickly paid and I basically ran across the road I was SUPER DUPER excited about trying it!

Cereal Milk $5USD and Latte $3.85USD

The cereal milk was so nice🙂 Very nostalgic hehe it sure reminds me of the days when I’d have Frosties for breakfast and loved drinking the milk! Mr Bao thought it was ‘weird’ hahaha I said to him ‘because you’re too Asian and don’t have cereal for breakfast!’ He ordered a latte as he needed a coffee fix, we were still jet lagged hehe he really enjoyed it, said it was nicely made and was smooth. But to me…it was a very regular cup of coffee ~

Crack Pie $5USD and Corn Cookie$1.85USD

The corn and compost (sorry forgot to take a photo) cookies were amazing! So soft and sweet🙂 LOL Christina Tosi is so creative to add pretzels and potato chips into cookies ~ yummy!

Compost Cookie Mix $16USD

A little expensive but I couldn’t help but buy it and try at home🙂

Deathly sweet ~

‘Deathly Sweet’ is how I would describe the crack pie🙂 it’s like nothing I’ve ever had before, so sweet, so rich and so unique ~ I think it’s one of those desserts, where you either ‘love it’ or ‘hate it’. I know Mr Bao definitely hated it😛 he took one bite and gave me a death stare like I had just slapped him across the face. He said that it was so sweet that he felt sick hahaha I think he was over exaggerating, I don’t think I can really describe how it tastes unless you try it for yourself, but the taste reminds me of the American candy corn lollies🙂 Is it just me being weird again? I think it was a little too rich even for me, but definitely worth a try!

Thanks Faith🙂 I’m glad you’re enjoying them even though you live in New York hehe ~ you’ve gotta go try the crack pie! I can’t describe it! I’m thinking of making it…but i don’t think Mr Bao will be too happy about it😛

That’s really interesting! I’ve gotta tell Mr Bao! Because he keeps telling me about all the food he can’t have it includes – duck, beef and seafood and even MUSHROOMS! It’s can be so hard to eat with him sometimes hehe😛

Thanks I tried my best to describe my experience at Momofuku🙂 You’ll love the corn cookie and you’ve still gotta try the crack pie hehe ~

OH YUMM! There are just too many places int he world to eat… I don’t know where to start. This looks so deliciously American I want to eat everything and come back huge! The pulled duck looks so good and I would have bough the compost cookie mix just for the name!

I loved SSAM bar, what a pity your friend can’t eat Duck…sad! We headed over to the Milk Bar straigth afterwards too…loved the crack pie and the compost cookie. I didn’t know they had Compost Cookie mix…I would’ve taken some home.

Yeah poor Mr Bao he would’ve love the duck bun if he could have it🙂 I swear i’m SO close to buying the Milk Bar cook book cuz I want to remake those corn cookies!!! I haven’t tried the compost cookie mix yet but will let you know how it goes ~

Momofuku is one of places that I NEED TO go. I’m so envious that you had their food! Thank you soooo much for sharing the experience. I’m getting more and more curious about this place and I can’t wait to try!!!!